Flames soak up the love prior to Sunday’s home opener

Fans in a frenzy at WinSport practice

It seems like the fans have forgiven the Calgary Flames, including Alex Tanguay, if the turnout at the last day of camp, at Canada Olympic Park, is anything to go by.

Photograph by: Lorraine Hjalte
, Calgary Herald

CALGARY— With the end of their withdrawal pains in merciful sight, hundreds of Calgary Flames fans crammed into Winsport’s ice complex Saturday morning to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

They shrieked when captain Jarome Iginla stepped on the ice. They cheered goals in meaningless drills.

Wide-eyed school kids simply beamed as their heroes – including Miikka Kiprusoff and Sven Baertschi – fist-bumped them on their way to the final session of training camp.

“It’s been a tough wait for everyone involved in the sport – fans, media, coaches, everybody,” said defenceman Dennis Wideman. “There’s a lot of people who were affected by that lockout — even the people selling the popcorn in the stands and stuff.

“It will be good for everyone to get this thing going.”

For the Flames, “this thing” gets going Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Scotiabank Saddledome against the San Jose Sharks.

“It’s certainly a lot more fun to start at home,” centre Alex Tanguay said. “Just today, you see the crowd. You see the reaction. You see how many people we had the rink.

“The fans are anxious for it. They’re ready for it. And certainly for us, that excitement is gong to carry on to all of us.”

The Flames best soak up the love from their fans now, given the lack of it from media pundits throughout North America. To put it mildly, this team is not exactly seen as a favourite to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Too small, too soft, too old.

The players all own smartphones and televisions. They know the public perception surrounding their chances.

So do the coaches.

“Having missed the playoffs for the last three seasons, we don’t expect flowers on game one,” said head coach Bob Hartley. “That’s the way it is, but I’ve been in similar situations, and we’ve always found a way. It’s up to us. The challenge is in our hands.

“We’re in a Canadian market, so we know there’s lots of experts out there. They’re going to analyze every part of our game, and that’s OK.”

Historically, the Flames are known for their slow starts, a trend that threatens to kill any hope of success should it not be reversed.

“You look at the last two years,” Tanguay said. “The first year, we were dead last at Christmas. And last year, we were not too far (from that.) Both years, we battled back towards the end to make the playoff push.

“We got our bad months out of the way, so we should be good to have a good season this year.”

Iginla, the captain, just happens to be the poster child for slow starts when averaged out over his 15–year NHL career.

“Jarome is usually an outstanding player in January,” his good friend Tanguay said with a grin.

Iginla, 35, missed the first two days of training camp with a groin injury, but the captain pronounced himself good to go on Saturday afternoon.

In a bit of a twist, Iginla took several neutral-zone faceoffs during the final session of camp. Perhaps not coincidentally, two of the most powerful centres in the game in Joe Thornton and Ryan Getzlaf are dropping by the Saddledome in the next 48 hours.

Tanguay is pencilled in as the centre on the first line between Iginla and Curtis Glencross, but … “Don’t be surprised if I throw Jarome a couple of shifts at centre,” Hartley said. “Jarome can take many faceoffs, especially on his strong side. He’s very good.”

The dawn of the Bob Hartley in Calgary era draws closer with every passing hour. And while the so-called experts predict a tough year ahead in these parts, the man behind the bench sees no point in trying to prove them wrong.

“In sports teams or in life, always try to prove the people who believe in you, you prove those people right,” he said. To prove people wrong, sometimes, there’s a side of it that’s fun.

“But more importantly is the belief in our locker-room, that’s the most important thing.”

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